With the upcoming 2026 World Cup, it’s time to look ahead and see what it has in store. The 2026 World Cup will be hosted in 3 different countries in North America. Mexico and Canada will be hosting 13 games each, and the United States will host the other 78 games. This year’s World Cup will be hosting an all time high of 48 teams expanding from the usual 16. There will be 12 groups of four with the top two teams advancing to the tournament stage: a single elimination knockout round going from a round of 32 to 16 before heading to quarter finals, semi finals, and championship.
Itś not just people outside of the United States who are looking forward to soccer on home turf”. for the upcoming world cup with on average at least 5.6 billion people tune in from all over the world for one minute of a game. For example, that is over 44 times the amount of viewers the last super bowl finals pulled in.
Teams playing include old favorites like England, France, Spain, and Germany as well as some fun surprise teams like Senegal and Curaḉao. But picking an early winner can never be easy but Caden Russo has made an early guess stating “I believe that France will win”. And recently group stage matches have been drawn, the U.S will be playing in Group D. The US Men ´ s National Team will take on Paraguay, who they have already beat 2-1. The only other definite country in Group D is Australia who will play the winner of Turkey, Slovakia, and Romania. France, the runner up of last tournament final, has a rather hard bracket with Senegal and Norway in the mix. Some of the best teams don’t even make it to the tournament, Italy for example ranked 7 in the world missed out on the last two World Cups, however, having drawn a good group, they have a much better chance of making it into the bracket.
For many stars this will be their last World Cup. Ronaldo will still be playing for Portugal, but has announced this will be his last World Cup appearance. Argentina ´ s Lionel Messi hasn’t even officially committed to playing in the 2026 World Cup. France will be playing for the last time with Mbappe and Dembele. For the U.S., Christian Pulisic and Norway with Erling Haaland are both getting older and are talking about passing on the torch to younger players. On the other hand, Spain has the best young player in the world Lamine Yamal at just 18 years old. Many fans are debating who will win the golden boot (top goal scorer), the golden ball (best player), and golden glove (presented to the best goalkeeper). Many of these awards can change the face of someone’s career like Lamine Yamal who won the Player of the Year Award and top goal scorer twice. And on that topic Brenen Deitz is backing Yamal by saying “Yamal is going to win the golden ball and golden boot” showing just how good this 18 year old is.
A big reason this World Cup is so big is because two of the greatest soccer players of this generation have talked about this being their last one. Arguably, one of the best and most recognizable players is Lionel Messi. He has won one World Cup in 2022 and will be looking for his second; however he will be without his winger and lifelong friend Di Maria. Messi recently came to America to play for InterMiami and has gained more of a fan base here in the United States. There will be a lot of fans from all over the world vying for a chance to see him play. Cristiano Ronaldo is probably one of the most renowned soccer players ever. People who know nothing about soccer have probably heard of him. With the confirmation of his retirement from international soccer and this being his last World Cup, anybody who wants to see him play one last time for Portugal will be flocking to the U.S. Having never won a World Cup before, fans can expect some intense soccer. With the 40 year old superstar still able to make a difference, he will be forced to miss the first game due to a red card he received against Ireland. Finally, Neymar, who if selected for Brazil, has made it clear that this will be his last World Cup.
Keep your eyes peeled for some fun World Cup watch parties because these games are local times which allows North Americans to really enjoy the games. Many soccer places in Madison like Breese Stevens Field and Toca will be throwing parties when the US National Team plays. Some games will be very close to here, like the one in Indianapolis, and fans will be able to watch games on a plethora of streaming services. Whether you are a lifelong fan of the game or are just looking for a good time, the World Cup is unlike any sporting event!
